I saw him playing at the US Open....Did anyone notice that he actually uses half a leather grip and half overgrip?? Is he not sponsored anymore and he is trying to save some cash?? Or it's something about balance??

I saw him playing at the US Open....Did anyone notice that he actually uses half a leather grip and half overgrip?? Is he not sponsored anymore and he is trying to save some cash?? Or it's something about balance??

I saw him playing at the US Open....Did anyone notice that he actually uses half a leather grip and half overgrip?? Is he not sponsored anymore and he is trying to save some cash?? Or it's something about balance??

I have no direct knowledge on the matter but it looks like he wraps the leather and Tournagrip multiple times around the butt of the racquet to make it larger which doesn't leave enough grip material to cover the entire pallet similar to Thomas Muster's racquets.

Also, if Head is able to make translucent bumper guards and grommets for the old Instinct mold (PT161?), I wonder why they don't put them on Murray's PT57 since they have them for the YT IG Prestige Pro? From a marketing standpoint it would make sense since Head went through all the trouble of changing the the Radical Pro to the Radical MP mold with 16x19 pattern and then putting CAP grommets on it.

I just saw him play at the China Open the other night. I got some close up shots of his racket.

His racket definitely doesn't have ridges any more but the clear bumper does.

The top half of his pallet is bare and in one picture I can read the pallet. It's a TK57 L4.

He has 1/2 a leather grip. He uses a full length Tourna, but he wraps the end of the butt cap about 4-5 times to get the flare before he continues to wrap the rest of the grip (still stopping halfway, just like the 1/2 leather grip). So basically 1/2 of the overgrip is wrapped around the butt cap, and the other 1/2 covers the 1/2 leather grip.

Just a guess, but when he was changing his Tourna grip, I'm 99% sure he had a Head Finest Calfskin Grip under.

Also, if Head is able to make translucent bumper guards and grommets for the old Instinct mold (PT161?), I wonder why they don't put them on Murray's PT57 since they have them for the YT IG Prestige Pro? From a marketing standpoint it would make sense since Head went through all the trouble of changing the the Radical Pro to the Radical MP mold with 16x19 pattern and then putting CAP grommets on it.

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It's because Murray does not want use the Clear grommets. Tommy Haas is the same way. He wont use the clear grommets either.

It's because Murray does not want use the Clear grommets. Tommy Haas is the same way. He wont use the clear grommets either.

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VS is right of course.

I also got some close ups of Haas' setup. Looks like PT57a's (18x20) with IG paint, but classic black caps. Looks nice. At one point he threw a racket and it landed just in front of where I was sitting (front row, about 7' off the court). I was trying to imagine how I could reach his racket before he had time to come pick it up.

I'll work on cropping and posting the Gasquet pictures in the next few minutes. I'm sure it's nothing new or amazing, but at least some people can get a look.

You can easily see LM ridges in grommet bumper, but not on racket
He's spinning the racket here, and it's night, so there is some blur, but you can see his name in the throat and see hints of lead under the bumper

I was a little wrong about the grip. The leather grip is also wrapped a few times on the butt cap, so it already has some extra flare, and then the Tourna grip is wrapped around a the butt cap a few extra times to make the flare bigger. When I zoom in on this, I can also clearly see the shiny "HEAD" that they use on their Finest Calfskin grips, so I'm 99% sure that's what it is.

I could be wrong, but it appears to me he wraps the leather grip over itself a few times at the bottom of the grip to create the 'knob' and as the knob has gotten bigger his grip covers less of the handle. I've seen him play and change the Tourna-grip at every change over.

I feel somewhat silly posting this in Pro's Racquets and Gear but I did try it out on my Flexpoint Tour and if you like holding the racquet low it works fantastic. I really like it on the serve. Felt really secure and I felt like I could let the racquet head lag and really pull from the handle.

That said I won't be switching over permanently. It was just a fun experiment.

Certainly is interesting that he's choosing to not wrap any higher than that..

curious, the pallets he's using, are they like the traditional head pallets or more similar to a wilson shape? I know the speeds come with a more square pallet, but my MG extremes come with the more traditional head pallet.

Just wondering in case I decide to get the more square ones.. if this is what they're in fact called.

Also.. why are the pallets on his and the radical tour previously posted grey? mine are black.. different composition perhaps?

Certainly is interesting that he's choosing to not wrap any higher than that..

curious, the pallets he's using, are they like the traditional head pallets or more similar to a wilson shape? I know the speeds come with a more square pallet, but my MG extremes come with the more traditional head pallet.

Just wondering in case I decide to get the more square ones.. if this is what they're in fact called.

Also.. why are the pallets on his and the radical tour previously posted grey? mine are black.. different composition perhaps?

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Head altered the shape, and color of pallets on their newer rackets. Or it at least feels that way to me.

I have a question about the Flexpoint Radical Tour I was fooling around on. I just popped open the butt cap and there is silicone inside and I just noticed the butt cap says 5 1/8. Is that normal? I'm sure it's nothing but the silicone inside surprised me and might explain why these are still the most solid racquets I've ever hit.